The real truth unravels
by Hisoka yume
Summary: Jack has given in to become a guardian, the one chosen to protect the children's dreams and fights against evil forces who threatens them. Even though things seem to be good, Pitch emerges and has a few tricks up his sleeves for him and his other fellow guardians. Will Jack survive and save the beliefs, hopes, and dreams, of children? Or will Pitch break him til nothing is left...
1. Chapter 1-It has to be a dream right?

**Author's Note: This story is a sequel to my previous story "Winter Spirit" in other words, this is my own version of the movie, most of its events have changed since this is a fanfic. Wanted to put it in the summary, but ran out of room. **

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Chapter 1- It has to be a dream right?

I walked aimlessly in the dark abyss, I couldn't find my way; I was hopelessly lost. "Where, where am I? What am I doing here?" I managed to choke out from the cold trembling fear I was experiencing throughout my entire body. I turned from every corner searching for something that would help me in indicating where I was, but to no success, it was completely dark from every corner I examined; though I kept steadily walking forward hoping to find something. It was very strange, as I walked deeper into the unknown abyss, a breeze of wind started to emerge, whispering to me, pulling me in closer to the unknown. In that instant, things even got more bizarre, from a distance, I faintly started to hear a small voice calling out my name. The voice sounded like an innocent little girl's voice. "Jack!...Jack!" the voice kept calling, ringing in my ears. This may sound weird, but for some reason, every time the girl called out to me, I had this urge to break out and run to her call; oddly her voice sounded familiar too; yet at the same time, I feel like she's a total stranger as well. After awhile taking baby steps forward, I couldn't help myself and started to run….faster and faster, every single time I heard my name. As I ran, I suddenly saw a small glimmer of light that was shining from a far ahead of me; it kept growing within every second as I kept getting closer. Once I did, I was practically bathed in the light and couldn't see a thing anymore; I was surrounded by the warmth of the light now. I raised my hand, squinting/covering my eyes. "What!" As the light descended, the environment I was in now came into view. I looked around again, and saw that I was standing in the middle of a forest; I practically felt the smooth and softness of the fallen leaves as I was stepping on them with my bare-feet.

"What is going on?" I wondered to myself looking at the leaves. Then I started to hear the little girl's voice again, "Jack! Jack come on," the girl called out. "Where is that voice coming from?" I wondered. I then walked slowly forward, looking everywhere trying to find the source. I rested one of my hands on a nearby tree catching my breath, and collecting my thoughts together. Then all of a sudden I heard the same girl again, except this time she was laughing and giggling; like if she was playing with someone. I looked to the side and saw a small figure coming across my direction running. As she came, I managed to get a clear view of her before she passed me by. It turned out that she really was a sweet little girl; she had a big smile on her face, and was quite energetic, she kind of reminded me of the sweet little girl I once knew, her name was Melody; though this girl had striking brown eyes, and dark brown hair, matching with the clothes that she was wearing. Seeing this little girl, really brought out a warm smile across my face, just seeing her happy and being carefree like any other child would be at that age really touches my heart. "It's weird…I feel…I feel like I know her," I whispered, still watching her run farther away. "But…but how can that be? I mean… all through my life I clearly remembered I was raised in a similar world to the North Pole along with my parents, and lost brother." My mind really felt like a train-wreck trying to make some sense from what I was feeling in my heart. Then what even made it more nerve wrecking was that I noticed another figure approaching my direction as well. My eyes widen as I saw the appearance of the person slowly walking. I felt frozen like a statue staring at him as he also passed by me following the young girl. "He…he looks…like me," I stammered, pointing at him; though it seemed like I was a ghost since neither he, nor the girl noticed me. By his clothes, eyes, and hair color, I would say that he was the little girl's older brother, but it was nerve wrecking since he looked identical to me, though he had slightly darker skin than me, and had brownish eyes, along with dark-brown hair. "Could he….could he be me!?" I wondered, but then I quickly denied it, "No, it can't be, I lived with my own family ever since I was a baby, it would be truly impossible for him to be me, this must be a crazy dream that I'm having." I then chuckled a little, "It has to be," I scratched the back of my head.

Then I suddenly heard a voice that startled me, "Are you sure you can truly say this is a dream Jack? Who's to say that this is a dream, what if it's more than that?" a dark sinister voiced spoke; it almost felt like if he was whispering it near my ear, like the wind. Then unexpectedly the atmosphere began a drastic change, the wind was blowing harder moving the leaves under my feet, the warm sunlight was now being blocked by the clouds making everything darker, and when I turned my attention to the teenage boy, he disappeared leaving the girl alone still running around playfully. "No!" I yelled. "Jack! Jack! Where are you?!" the girl asked worriedly. Even though the wind was blowing hard, I pushed my body forward, immediately running towards the little girl; though with every second I took, I felt like an unseen force was pulling me back. Time seemed to have gone slower while my body felt excruciatingly heavy as I kept desperately trying to reach her. Though she ended up fading away along with the rest of the world I was standing upon. Everything was being swallowed up by the shadows of darkness. "This can only be the work of one man, Pitch." I watched helplessly seeing everything being torn to pieces due to the shadowy nightmares. I then looked down, with my silver hair covering my eyes, a tighten fist was formed into one of my hands. "What is it that you fear the most Jack?" Pitch spoke again; darkness was slowly swirling around my body. My staff magically appeared in my right hand; gripping it tightly, I didn't move a muscle, "Leave me alone, you already caused enough damage," I spoke out in anger. Though he only laughed at my response, "But the fun has only begun Jack Frost….if that is the person you truly believe you are," he said. "You will fall along with the rest of those pathetic friends of yours," Pitch continued. Then in a flash I suddenly felt something that pierced my body making me drop my staff.

It felt like if it was a knife or a dagger. I managed to choke out a scream from feeling the pain from the unexpected attack. My eyes looked downward in seeing a shadowy blade that was thrust into my body; blood was dripping off of it down to the ground; I even examined my hand and saw that it was covered with dried blood. My vision started to get hazy as I was being slowly consumed by the nightmares that were approaching me. "A dream…to a nightmare," I said in a soft low voice trying to breath. Then the last thing I saw was that a shadowy creature screamed demonically and then jumped, coming after me.

"AAAAAHHHHH" I couldn't bare it, I was screaming at the top of my lungs; my eyes were shut tighter and I believe my face was wet due to a few tears falling. I moved and unexpectedly fell hard down to the floor with the blanket still wrapped around me. All that could be heard was a loud thump, I slowly got up and rubbed the top of my head, "Ouch, that really hurt," I sleepily said. I then examined on where I was and quickly remembered that I was in my new bedroom that Santa Claus (North) had provided for me. I then blushed and gave a weak chuckled, "It was only a dream," I said feeling a little relieved. "And because of it I fell off the bed, luckily no one saw that or I think the Kangaroo (Easter Bunny) will be laughing at me getting a kick out of it." I then got my blanket and slowly crawled back into bed; though in a sitting position. I slightly tilled my head resting it on the window staring out, seeing my own reflection. I then wiped the wet tears on my face away, sighing. "It was a dream, yet…why do I feel it was real? It felt like if I was seeing a memory which is weird since I can't recall the memory at all. Then….then Pitch came in trying to take over, I believe without a doubt that that part of the dream was real since his goal is to spread fear to everyone; mostly the children, but what does he want with me? But most importantly, what does he mean by, " if I truly believe that I'm me"…is he trying to make me doubt my existence, or what he said holds something no one, not even my parents told me about." I just kept trying to make sense out of all this. I then turned my attention upward, gazing at the moon up in the night-sky. "The moon…why do I have this feeling it has something to do with the moon," I said softly. I then pulled the covers, lying down comfortably on the bed, resting my head on the fluffy pillow. "I'm thinking too much about of all this… I mean it was a dream right?" I spoke staring above the ceiling. Then before I closed my eyes to continue my sleep, I suddenly heard a small knock on my door. I rose up from bed, "Come in," I said. The door opened slowly revealing to be the Tooth-fairy.

"Jack, are you okay? I heard a loud noise coming from your room," she said with a worried expression on her face. "Yeah, I'm okay, no problem," I said giving a small laugh, "I just fell off the bed that's all, clumsy me." I said giving a bright smile; though it still seemed like she had the same worried expression on her face. "Well…okay as long as you are alright, just don't forget that you have to wake up early since we have to do many things tomorrow in planning our strategy to take out Pitch," she slightly turned her back and reached for the knob. "Yeah, I know, thanks for checking on me though," I said starting to get comfortable on the bed again. She then gave a warm smile, "Goodnight," she whispered. "Goodnight," I said tiredly; I ended up yawning while stretching my arms. I then turned my body to the opposite side of her still having my eyes open; eventually I finally heard the door shut quietly, leaving me alone with my thoughts again. "Like I said before it was only a dream, when we destroy Pitch, all this will just be a forgotten memory." I finally closed my eyes, slowly drifting back to sleep again, waiting for the arrival of day.

*While everything seemed peaceful in Santa's workshop, outside in the frosty cold, a dark figure was standing eyeing at the building. "Like I said Jack, this is only the beginning, enjoy your last night of sweet dreams, because after tonight, it will be your last," Pitch said coldly with a wicked smirk on his face. After while, he started to walk off into the distance, he then turned his attention to the illuminating moon, "No one will stop me, I will get my revenge once more," he said determined pointing at the moon, "You were the one that chose him to defend the dreams of children and to destroy me, well since I have a few tricks up my sleeves, I'll make sure that your little plan on choosing the boy will backfire, I have my own plans for him," he said putting his hands together giving a sinister laugh. Then from behind a wave of darkness appeared surrounding him; some of the darkness emerge into shadowy horse-like creatures. "Come now my friends, we have so much to do," he said patting one of the horses on the head. With that said Pitch and the nightmare creatures vanished, lost in the snow. Things have only just begun…


	2. Chapter 2-Memories

Chapter 2-Memories 

"Jack! Jack, wake up, this is an emergency," a voice called out to me; though I was still in a sleepy state. The undefined figure kept on shaking me to wake up from bed. "Go away, I still need sleep," I muttered, waving my hand at the person still having my eyes shut. I even moved my body the opposite direction and pulled the fluffy pillow over my head to drown out the outside noise; I wanted quiet. But it didn't help since the pillow was ripped out of my hands, "This is no joke mate, get up, Tooth's home is being attack and we all need to go and help her now!" Bunnymund yelled; he even pulled the blanket away from me as well. I finally rose up from bed, "Fine, fine! I'm up, just go, I'll meet you there," I yelled; I'm not really much of a morning person. "Well hurry up, North is waiting!" Bunnymund then made his way out of the room. Since I was barely getting up I didn't completely get what was going on, after a few moments, then it clicked, "Tooth's place is being attack!" I finally registered it in mind; my eyes widen in shock. I immediately jumped off of the bed, changed as quickly as possible, got my staff, and ran to meet the rest of the team.

By the time I got to the meeting place, North, sand-man, and Bunnymund were all ready there together waiting for me. "Nice for you to join us Jack, now let's go, there is no time to lose, this way, were going to the sleigh," he said motioning his hand to follow him; though I didn't budge, "Wait, wait, wait, you except me to ride with all of you?" I asked following them. We went to another room and North pushed the double doors that were in front of him, "I'm not getting into some rickety old-" though before I could finish my sentence I saw that the elves, and the yetis' were brining it out. I'll admit for him, it was amazing, "sleigh," my eyes were still locked on it. "Okay, one ride, but that's it," I then immediately jumped right in admiring everything in it; I was also accompanied by the sand-man and (forcefully by North) Bunnymund. I was beyond excited when we were about to take off, though as we started to gain flight for a few seconds, I noticed that Bunny was extremely uncomfortable riding; I couldn't help but chuckle a little due to his silly little fear of flying high.

We ended up flying really high and might I say, the whole world of the North Pole looked breath-taking, though since we were really high up, I couldn't help but to play a small joke on my dear friend. I looked down from the edge of the sleigh for a second standing, I then turned to Bunny and smiled, "Hey, you got to see this, it's amazing!," I yelled at him; he slowly turned to faced me, still not moving an inch; I then pretended to lose my balance, got carried off by the wind, and supposedly fell off the sleigh. I secretly lay back, relaxing on one of the sleigh's runners. I saw that he had a worried expression on his face, "Jack!?" he asked; then of course his worried expression faded once he saw me. "Awww, you really do care about me, I'm touched," I said sarcastically; though he just rolled his eyes and went back to his seat. "Will you two stop playing around, we're almost there," I heard North say from ahead of the sleigh. So I ended up going back into the sleigh due to his comment As we were up in the sky, I noticed North pulled out an orb and threw it, the orb activated, opening a portal to Tooth's world. I was completely stunned when I saw what was happening as we went through; it felt like déjà vu since all the nightmares I saw in my dream were everywhere, consuming everything they could. "Oh no," I said under my breath staring at the unpleasant scenery. North then parked the sleigh immediately and everyone sprang into action. They were running to different directions, charging at the nightmares; though I was still in the sleigh stunned, I couldn't move all I could think about was the dream, remembering the dark image of me being devoured by those creatures. But I quickly snapped out of the trance and got out ready to fight as well.

As I fought using my power, every single nightmare I'd hit, vanished into nothing; leaving no trace. Though I figured fighting them didn't do any good since most of them started to retreat, whatever it was they came here for, they got what they wanted and we were too late. As I looked up at the sky I saw that the darkness was leaving, along with Pitch carrying a big bag of something; I didn't know what was going on, but I know i couldn't allow him to escape, so I immediately flew up high charging at him. As I raised my staff to throw a hit, to my surprise, he doge and threw a forceful punch, knocking me off….falling.

"Jack! Jack! Can you hear me? Are you alright?" I faintly heard a voice say to me. I slowly opened my eyes, waiting for my vision to come back to me; as it did, I saw that the Tooth-fairy was hovering over me. "Yeah, I'm alright," I said getting up. "Oh, good, at least there is some good news," she said looking away; though I raised an eye-brow due to her comment, "What do you mean?" She turned facing me, "Pitch, he took the children's teeth; it's the main reason why he was here." But I was still confused, "Teeth? Why teeth?" "The teeth hold precious memories of a child from their childhood, I collect them to keep them safe from harm's way, but now that Pitch has them, he can easily transfer nightmares to every child with the help of those memories; they're like a gateway to the mind were dreams and everything else is located," she said to me worried. "He even has yours," she said moving closer. "Mine, what do mean mine? I was never born a human, well I was one for a brief time, but not enough time for me to lose any teeth," I said back. Though what I said seemed to shock her, which I had no idea why. "You really have lost your memories; completely wiped clean, you may not believe me Jack, but you were once a human…a real person," she said softly. My eyes widen, "What?" Though I quickly denied what she told me, "No, it…it can't be," I said with sadness and confusion. Then…the dream I had last night…about the boy and the little girl…was that my memory? "What…what is going on?" Without another word, I ended up flying off into the distance leaving. "Jack, wait come back!" I faintly heard the Tooth fairly say, but I'd refused to listen and kept going. "I have to know the truth…the truth about myself; I think it's time for me to pay my parents a visit."

After a few hours of flying, I finally made it back to my own home world. Everything seemed the same the way I remembered it before I said my good-bye to my mother. I landed on the softness of the snow and steadily walked searching for the ice-castle I use to live in. After a few minutes of walking, I finally found it; to my surprise, the castle also didn't seemed to change much either. I slowly walked over to the front door, giving it a loud knock, hoping someone will open it. The door opened revealing it to be my father; he too hadn't change either, but what do you except since our kind doesn't really age. "Son?" It took him awhile to register that it was me since he hadn't seen me in a long time. Then he smile, "Son! It's been so long, I almost forgotten how you looked like," he ended up hugging me due to the excitement. "Yeah, dad I'd missed you too, so how is mom doing?" I asked. "She's doing fine, though she isn't here at the moment, but I'm pretty sure she would be glad to see you if she was here right now," he said. "Oh, so can I come in?" "Oh sure, yes come in, come in." As I walked in I heard the door shut, "So how have you been, I haven't really heard from you," he asked walking up to me. "Oh, good, good, I practically have a place in the North Pole with Santa," I said kicking one of my legs back and forward. "Oh, wow, you're doing better than I hoped," he said happily. Though I really felt like cutting to the chase, "Dad, the reason I'm here is because something happened that's been bugging me, and I just want to know the truth about it, that's all," I said to him. "Well what is it, ask me anything." It took a little time for me to say it, but I eventually did, "Am I really yours and mom's real child?" I asked staring directly at him. "Well of course you are, we had you since you were a baby, you and your brother," he said. But I wasn't truly convinced, "Dad please, I really want to know," I said. I saw that he was quiet for a moment then finally spoke, "No… you're not, we were hoping you never found out, how did you?" "The Tooth-fairy said since she collects teeth from mortals." "Oh," he said. "Care to explain." He then grabbed a chair and sat down. "Sit down then and I'll tell you, what I know." So I did.

"You see, it goes back many, many years ago when me and your mother first created this castle. Before you, we were the ones who would bring winter to Earth since we thought it was our job and we decided we wanted to make that our tradition to pass down when we would have kids of our own, but I do believe at the time, that there was this war going on in the moon and the man on the moon knew of our existence, so he wanted our help. We did what we could and sent out soldiers for him to fight alongside him. We ended up establishing a friendship because of that." "The man on the moon, who is he?" I asked. "He was the first guardian that would protect the children before he passed it on to a team." "Oh, then what happened?" "Well honestly, I've never really heard the outcome of the war after that, so I assumed everything turned out okay, so we continued with our lives, and decided to have a child since your mother wanted one so bad. But then one day we heard from the man on the moon again, he reported that he was truly grateful that we help him, but he ask us in doing him a favor that your mother couldn't refuse.

I still don't know the reason why, but he said to us that a pupil of his own one day found you, lying dead in the middle of a forest and the man on the moon couldn't bare it see you like that, so with his magic, he gave you a new body; a new life, in other words, you were reborn, casting away your old body, settling into a new. But along with doing the process, he didn't know that you would turn into a baby; starting from scratch again, so he needed someone to raise you, to be cared for and since you held a similar power to us, he thought it would have been a perfect fit for us to take you in and raise you as our own. And since we were going to have one, your mother accepted and went off to get you from him. But of course at the time, he said it was a child, so we didn't know if you were a boy or a girl and I was anxiety waiting to see the new arrival, and then once we both saw you, you looked so similar to us, that we forgotten you were adopted and basically treated like our real son. Though since your mother heard your name was Jack before, she kind of wanted it to stay that way even though we melded the name together with Frost." "Huh, well that explains it," I said. "Though for the record, at the time of naming you, she said she didn't know why she was attach to that name, but she eventually told me later the reason why," he continued. "So, since the way I looked and the power I had, it was all so surprisingly perfect that I never questioned about it, but then what about my brother?" I asked. "He was the only real son we had, but since he would look up to you, and you two would always play together when you were little, we never really told him you were our adopted son." I then looked down, feeling like if I had a lump in my throat, remembering the dreadful event that happened to him on that day, "Oh," I said with sadness.

"Well…I guess that explains why I was always so fascinated by the humans from Earth…because I was one…but just didn't know it," I said softly. Then another thought occurred to me, "But I was a human again for a brief time, you remember, how come my memories 0f actually being human didn't come back to me?" I said raising my head. "Because those memories were from your past life, the one that was given up, so you can live another, that spell I gave you to become a human, yes it granted your wish, but since I told you there was a way to get out of it, you weren't completely human enough to get the memories from your past life back, sure it seemed like you had a new body, but in reality, you were only human by appearance, you were still the winter spirit we all knew inside, hence why you didn't look the same when you were human again," he said to me. "Oh." "Anything else you would like to know?" I thought for a moment, "How did I die?" Silence filled the air, after awhile he finally spoke, "I'm sorry, I don't really know, the man on the moon never really told us that, he just wanted us to take care of you." Then I thought about Pitch again, flying away with the bag full of children's teeth; I have to get that bag, it holds the final answer of what I'm looking for. I then got up, smiling, hugging my dad, "Thank you for telling me the truth dad; I will always love you and mom even if you really aren't my true parents." "I love you too, Jack." "Tell mom I said hi." "I will." After the heart-warming good-bye, I headed out the door walking in the endless weather of snow again.

I then stopped for a moment, looking up, admiring the snowflakes as they fell. Unexpectedly, though, the moon appeared up in the sky again; it felt like if it was shinning over me, "Why…why did you bring me back? What am I suppose to do? I heard from the other guardians that I was chosen to be in their team, but I didn't think it was from you." I then looked down staring at my bare-feet thinking about it. "Speaking of them, I better go and meet back with them, it seemed kind of wrong for me to have taken off like that; they're probably worried and looking for me by now." As I was about to take flight on my staff, I felt an extremely unusually cold chill running down my spine. "And they're about to be even more worried," I heard a dark voice say. It was Pitch again; no doubt about it. Darkness started to emerge and the creatures came out. They started to circle around, surrounding me. I was cautious and held my staff defensively; though in an instant I felt something grab me; it was so quick. I struggled; I had trouble breathing, it felt like I was having the life crushed out of me; suffocating, whatever it was, it had a grip on my neck. "You think this is painful, oh Jack… this is just the beginning," I heard him say. "You think being a guardian is wonderful, protecting those humans you are fascinated by, well I'll show you something that will make you reconsider the thought; no human has ever been kind to you; you're deceived by a lie!" I couldn't handle it anymore, I was feeling weak, I ended up dropping my staff, my vision started to get hazy as I was slowly losing consciousness.

*Pitch ended up taking Jack…having him now in the palm of his hand.


	3. Chapter 3- A Nightmare

Chapter 3- A Nightmare

"Where…where am I? Darkness….all I can see is darkness. I want to move my body, but as I at least try, it was impossible due to my arms being bind against a cold hard surface. For the first time, I truly felt incredibly weak; my arms were bound, held up with chains with my head down, blankly staring at the floor. Everything was a blur on how I got here….that only thing I could remember was those nightmares surrounding me and a sinister laugh echoing in the background. After slowly moving my eyes from side to side, I figured out I am locked up, contained in a room. After a while I faintly heard the same voice ringing in my head once more; like the wind whispering in my ear. "You think being a guardian is wonderful, protecting those humans you are so fascinated by….Jack…no human has ever shown kindness to you. The team only wanted you to join since it was an order; they never respected you as a true value to their team," Pitch said. Though I didn't respond, I just kept staring down at the floor; my eyes seemed like if they were lifeless. The only thing that could be heard in the room was the sound of my breathing. "They don't respect me," I uttered; repeating what he said. "But….I…have been given kindness," I continued. Though he just laughed; mocking me, "Oh, I heard your story, you found a human girl that you loved, so you transformed into a human to be with her, and I suppose you thought she loved you just as much as you did, indicating of her being kind to you, am I right?";though I still stayed motionless. "News flash Jack, she never really loved you! She loved the fact that you were Jack Frost, she only loved the things that you can do, without your power, she probably would have never looked in your direction; she never loved you!" He then appeared in front of me; though I still didn't budge. I felt his hand as he was gripping my neck again. My eyes slightly moved upward; both of us were facing each other now. "And it gets worse from here," he said coldly fixed on me.

*Pitch then waved his hand and a dark glowing orb appeared. "Time to test out my power on you," he said in his mind taking the orb. He put the orb closer and whispered, "Let his memories and dreams be tainted with nightmares." Then without a second to spare, the orb flew silently; starting to invade Jack's mind. His eyes widen with fear and shock, his teeth were grinding, and he was trying to break free from the chains that were binding him. "Stop it! Stop it! Leave me alone!" he screamed still struggling to be free. "If he becomes completely consumed by the nightmare, I will practically have him under my control…finally I'll have a new powerful partner on my side," Pitch said in his mind while watching Jack still screaming in anguish. He then disappeared leaving him again, waiting to see what will happen next.

"I'll show you something that will make you reconsider…"

*Jack then fell back asleep….his mind being transported into one of Pitch's nightmares.

I kept running…running in trying to escape from those monsters that were chasing me; I was weak and defenseless, but no matter what, I kept pushing my body forward running to who knows where; anywhere I could be safe is better than anything else at the moment. My heart was racing rapidly within very step I took trying to get away; though since I wasn't really focused on where I was going, somehow I lost my balance and fell; rolling down from a hill I was on. I felt the impact once I hit myself against the ground; I could barely move due to that unexpected event. After a few seconds of examining myself, I saw that my hands were scrapped with cuts, my legs were covered in bruises, and my jacket was torn up in a couple of places. Though I managed to turn my head back, and noticed the creatures were gone; they stopped chasing me. Even though I was feeling pain at the moment, it was an opportunity that I took to at least try to pull myself together and see exactly of where I was. The environment I was in was quite dark, yet I could still see; where ever I was, it was officially night-time. I looked from side to side, from corner to corner, everything I would see, there was a tree; I was in a forest, maybe it was the forest that my dad mentioned before… where he said I'd died. It took me a while, but I finally managed to get up, fighting through the pain; though as I was standing; I felt like I wanted to collapse back on the ground again, but I didn't. Then as the wind was blowing through my hair, I faintly started to hear voices from a distance; so predictable for myself, I slowly walked in searching where were the voices coming from.

I followed the sound of the voices and finally came across three teenage boys; they were walking side by side going somewhere. But I assumed I was a ghost to them since I was in clear view and they didn't notice me at all, though I was curious, so I followed them anyway. As I walked behind them I finally registered that one of the boys in the small group was the same boy I saw in my previous dream; I came to my realization that he was me before I became Jack Frost.

"No, seriously you guys, I think we should go back. I don't really feel right being out here at this time at night," I heard him say to the other boys I didn't know. I then walked ahead of them and saw that he had a rather worried expression on his face. "Oh, come on Jack, don't be a wimp, you want to get noticed by others don't you?" the other boy said to him. "Well yeah but-" "But nothing, if you want to get noticed, we agreed you have to do this," the boy continued. "Yeah, you agreed…there is no time for second thoughts now," the other exclaimed. "Mmmm…I'm sorry guys, I just can't go through with this, I'm…I'm going home." He then started to turn back heading the opposite direction. "I knew we couldn't rely on him to do the job, he's just too soft," one whispered to the other. "Well no matter then, we'll just go and do it ourselves then," he whispered back. "But what about Jack, he'll probably tell someone about this and we'll be in major trouble." "Tell who, he's completely alone in this world." "But what if he somehow does tell someone!" I then saw the two boys look back eyeing him again. Then they turned back to each other, "Well I guess we have no choice but to dispose of him then," the boy said. My eyes widen in horror, "No, what are they going to do? I wondered.

I then saw the two boys run after him; forcefully grabbing him. I could only stand by and watch helplessly since I couldn't be seen at all to do anything. "Hey, wait, what are you guys doing, let me go!" he kept struggling to break free; though it was no use, the two had a good grip on him. They ended up dragging him into the forest; as I saw them pass by me, I saw that one of the boys had a knife in one of their hands. I was completely frozen in shock, "They're going to kill him…..they're going to kill me. Since I didn't follow them any further, the only sound I could hear was the dreadful sounds of screaming; they… stabbed him…. they stabbed me. Even though I didn't want to see the outcome, somehow my legs automatically started to walk closer to where the murdered occurred, within every step I took, I sensed that the nightmare were reappearing follow me again. As I walked deeper into the forest, I saw from a distance that the two boys were there, now with a dead body; I saw that the knife was covered, dripping with blood; innocent blood. I honestly didn't know what to think, I was practically emotionless; like a zombie. Unknowingly though, tears were emerging, silently falling down my face; I truly felt torn and broken inside. I couldn't handle it; I then collapsed to the ground on my knees, crying.

* "Hey, eventually people are going to start looking for this kid," the boy said looking at the body. "Well I think there is some kind of lake nearby that we can dump him in," the other said. "But I think it's frozen; it's the winter season you know." "So, we'll just get something to crack the ice and throw him in there, by the time people will come looking, the hole that we made will be frozen again." "Okay whatever you say then." With said the two boys grabbed hold of the body and carried it away; leaving Jack still in tears.

Then from nowhere, darkness appeared swirling around Jack's body; the environment around him was slowly being engulfed by darkness. After a while Pitch's voice was heard once more, "You were all alone in this world, treated with no respect just like your fellow guardians treated you. They showed you no kindness and took advantage of you, they murdered you Jack…and yet you want to protect them." Though Jack still stayed motionless on his knees; he didn't know what to think; darkness still circled around him. "But if you ask me, I consider you as a special being with unique powers, you have my respect, you and I can join together and you can get revenge on those humans and even show the guardians what you can truly do."

Everything then became extremely quiet…Jack was still tied up with is head down, lying on his knees motionless like he previously was before. Without another word, Jack then opened his eyes sharply; he had awakened; though it wasn't truly himself, the nightmares now had a hold of him. Jack's eyes were no longer blue, they were now dark yellowish color. He basically had a creepy yet sinister facial expression on his face. Since he was more powerful than ever, he than managed to rip the chains off from the wall and freed himself. Pitch then appeared before him, examining how different he was, "Hmmm, At Jack's state right now, the other guardians clearly have no chance of winning, and setting him free from my grasp….victory will definitely soon be mine," Pitch said in his mind admiring that his plan is working. Jack then raised his hand to the side and magically his staff appeared in his hand; though the staff had an aura of darkness leaking out of it. "Why not pay a visit to your fellow teammates, I'm sure they are already worried enough," Pitch said with an evil smile on his face. Jack then sharply turned facing Pitch and smiled with lust in his eyes. "Sure, why not, I would love to play a little game with them," he said with a slight chuckle. Dark aura was now surrounding his entire body. He then sprang out leaving Pitch flying up in the sky.

"Well this will be interesting, wonder how it will play out," he said while watching Jack flying off.


	4. Chapter 4-Meeting Again

Chapter 4- Meeting again

*It was night-time in a nearby city, and the rest of the guardians were flying, jumping from house to house collecting teeth from children. But out of the team, the Tooth-fairy was the one who wasn't fully focused; she kept thinking about Jack. She remembered how confused, lost, and determined he was to know the truth about his past. "Where ever he is, I hope he's okay," she said softly following the others. "Don't worry, as soon as we get this out of the way, we'll go find him," North said trying to cheer her up. But of course she was still rather worried since they even had to deal with Pitch as well. After a while of collecting the teeth and leaving mini gifts in return, they rounded them up in a bag and headed back to the sleigh. Everyone put their share in the sleigh and got on, ready to take flight again; but before they were about to take off, Tooth then suddenly noticed a figure looking at them; the figure was sitting on the edge of a building. She looked closer trying to identify the figure; without a doubt the figure revealed itself to be wearing a simple blue jacket with the hood covering most of his face, along with brownish pants, and had the staff gripped with two hands. Tooth's eyes widen in happiness, "Guys, look, it's Jack; he has come back!" she said to the others.

The others then turned and acknowledged him; though Jack still didn't move from where he was at. "Wait, a minute, I sense that something isn't right," North said still looking at him. "What do you mean?" Bunny said. "Hush, just don't let your guard down," he whispered to him and the others. "Jack, you came back, we were worried about you, come down, and talk with us, we want to know where you have been," North yelled. With still no word, Jack then jumped off the building, landing on the ground; though he still stayed a distance from them. Silence filled the air between them for a few moments; that is until when Jack finally raised his staff at them in a fighting position. "Jack, what are you doing, it's us," Tooth said. "I knew something was up," North said in his mind. "I have seen what your limits are, what you can do, with this new power in hand, all of your powers combined will be no match for me. You all never really wanted me on the team, it was no other than an order, if you all had to choose on your own, I wouldn't have never been considered as a possible choice; you all think I'm not important!" Jack finally spoke; his face was still hided underneath the hood. "That's not true! We do care about you, you are important to us and there is a significant reason why you, of all people were chosen to be on the team, it's not because it was just an order!" Tooth said. "Yeah," North and Bunny said along with Sand-man nodding his head agreeing with them.

Then Tooth turned to North, "Why is he talking like this, it's not like him." "Mmmm…I think Pitch is the one who is responsible for his behavior, he's being controlled by the nightmares Jack has contained in his mind. The Nightmares feed on dreams, and poison precious memories, turning them into a false-dark memory which leads the person in fear or anger; for Jack, I think it has happen to him. He wanted to know the truth about himself so Pitch got a hold of him and created a false truth so he can easily give in and turn against us, this is what Pitch wanted," North said. "So what do we do then, how do we break Pitch's hold on Jack?" Bunny asked. "We'll probably have to find Pitch to get Jack's teeth back, and show him the real truth; hopefully breaking the bond enough to reason with him," North said. Then suddenly a gust of heavy wind blew towards their direction, "Enough talking! It's time for you all to pay the price of treating me with no respect and for protecting those humans! I suffered enough and they should suffer as well; let the nightmares consume everything, make everyone be consumed with torment and fear!" Jack yelled; his eyes began to glow underneath the hood and the dark aura started to appear around him again. He then slammed his staff against the hard surface of the ground and like nothing, the nightmare creatures started to appear behind him. "Let it begin," Jack said underneath his breath; eyeing at his targets with his soulless yellowish eyes.

"So…is there a plan in mind?" Bunny whispered to North; all of them were in a fighting stance. "Me and Tooth will keep Jack occupied while you and Sandy take care of the Nightmares, when Jack is fully distracted, Sandy, I want you to use your sleepy power to put Jack to sleep and we'll figure out what's next from there," North said. "Okay sounds good," Bunny responded. Then without a second thought, the Tooth-fairy flew like a rocket, towards Jack and hit him with all her strength. "Hey, at least wait for me!" North yelled running towards the two. As the two departed, it only left Bunny and Sandy; the two were slowly being surrounded by the creatures. "Ready, mate?" Sandy nodded yes. The two then ran towards the creatures and started eliminating them one by one; it was no challenge for them but they tried to hurry so they could meet with the others.

Tooth had Jack pinned against a wall; though he just looked at her and smiled. "To bad I'll have to break that pretty face," he said still with a smile. He then dissolved into snow; disappearing, leaving Tooth alone confused. She then turned and was stunned to see that Jack was behind her. He grabbed her by the neck and forcefully pinned against the wall that he was on earlier; choking her, "I guess I'll just start with you." "Jack…no," she said softly wanting to cry. Then a beam of light hit Jack on the back, releasing his grip on her. He then sharply turned and saw North standing; armed with two swords, "You have me to deal with too you know." "Bring it then," Jack said gripping his staff with his hands. North then charge towards Jack; Jack used his staff and created a huge block of ice, with a slight wave of his hand, he sent it flying towards North, but he was quick and managed to cut the ice magically in half like butter still charging at him. But Jack still stood his ground and hit North's swords; their two weapons clashing with one other. "He's fully distracted…since he is only focusing on me," North said in his mind.

"Is that the last of them?" Bunny asked examining his surroundings; searching for more Nightmares. Sandy looked around as well and eventually gave Bunny a thumbs-up in indicating the job was done. "Okay, let's hurry, the others can't keep Jack busy for long," with that said, the two headed to help Tooth and North. After awhile they finally caught up to them and noticed North and Jack were the ones fighting each other. "Sandy, hurry use the dream sand," Bunny instructed keeping his distance so Jack won't spot them. Sandy then raised his hand and soft, sweatiness of sand appeared over his hand. "This won't cure the Nightmares Jack has, but him being asleep will buy us some times to fix things properly," Bunny said to himself still seeing the two fight. Sandy than steady raised his hand higher slowly trying to get a good aim. After a few moments, he then threw the ball of sand, hitting Jack on the back; luckily North's plan was a success. Jack tried to fight the sleepiness, but the power was too great, he fell down to his knees; eyes halfway open. Even though he was drifting to sleep; dreams were the last thing that could possibly be given to him, he was sinking into everlasting nightmares. His body; fully given in to sleep, fell, collapsing to the ground. He was now, by appearance, fast peacefully asleep. North then lowered his swords and was relieved, "Good, for a minute, I didn't think it was going to work," North said.

Then that's when North remembered Tooth, "Tooth! Are you alright?" he ran to her aid. Bunny and Sandy then came and accompanied her as well. They looked at her, but there was no response or body movement; they tried not to think the worst of what happened to her. They didn't want to say those words or even think of possible death. After a few moments of silence North then spoke, "Well, we really need to get going, I'll take Tooth and you two carry Jack, were going back to the North Pole." But all of them were still worried of Tooth's sake; could Jack have possibly killed her? Was North to0 late? With that said, the remaining group carried the two bodies back to the sleigh, finally leaving the town.

Pitch was hiding in the shadows; he was watching the show all along. "Mmmm….it seems they'll have their hands a little full due to their two fallen teammates, in the mean time," he then snapped his fingers; more Nightmares appeared behind him, "I'll be spreading fear in the dreams of children, one by one they'll lose faith in you… guardians, and I'll be the ruler, by the time you all come looking for me, it will be too late," he ended up laughing, enjoying his moment of a possible victory. "Go my nightmares, go and spread fear everywhere," he yelled. With that said, the creatures obeyed Pitch's orders and flew up in the sky; invading every child's dream they could. The children were shivering with fear, pulling the covers over their faces, tossing and turning in bed; and all other things kids do when they're afraid. "The guardians….will soon be no more," Pitch whispered disappearing in the darkness.

But since Pitch left, he didn't know that when the darkness was spreading to each house; only one was left untouched. The house belonged to a young boy, who had a small family. He was in his room with the night-light on, still thinking about what he saw, if it was a dream or not; though he strongly believed it was real. "The Tooth-fairy and the others…they were here, I knew she would come," the brown haired boy said examining the quarter he got from underneath his pillow. He had a heart- warming smile on his face just thinking about her. Then the door opened slightly revealing it to be the boy's mother, "Jamie, what are you doing up…you are going to wake your sister…please go to sleep," she said softly. He then quickly put the quarter underneath the pillow, "Okay, mom, good-night," he said smiling. The mother smiled back, "Sweet dreams," she then gentle closed the door. "Yeah…sweet dreams," he repeated slowly; drifting to sleep. "Hopefully I'll see them again, if I'm lucky," he said. He then turned to the side facing the window; admiring the moon; eventually his eyes started to get heavy and soon drifted to peaceful sweet dreams; no Nightmare in sight.

" A light still shines….there is still hope…"


	5. Chapter 5-Collecting the Truth

Chapter 5-Collecting the Truth

It was awfully quiet in the sleigh when North was driving back to the North Pole. Who could blame them? Pitch had manipulated one person and they have possibly lost another due to his evil scheme. "So what are we going to do about Jack and Tooth?" Bunny finally spoke breaking the silence. It took a few moments, but North finally spoke, "Well, our next move will be to find Pitch's hide out so we can collect Jack's teeth before the dream sand wears off….and for Tooth… we will just wait and see what will happen, hopefully she is just unconscious," he said. "Well…obviously one of us has to stay and keep an eye on the two, while the other hunts down Pitch," Bunny said. Bunnymund then thought for a moment, and came to a conclusion, "I think it's best if you and Sandy stay with Tooth and Jack, while I'll go and find Pitch…I'm the quickest and the most capable of successfully doing the job and if Jack somehow wakes up, Sandy will put him to sleep again, and you will be there to make sure he won't escape or cause more harm to Tooth," Bunny said putting out his own plan. North thought about Bunny's plan for a moment, "Yeah, fine, we'll go with that plan," he said. Then Bunny turned and looked at Jack's innocent sleepy face, "You're really going to owe me big time when this nonsense is all over," he said smiling at him.

After a quick trip to Tooth's world to drop off the teeth they collected earlier, they finally arrived at the North Pole. North was carrying Tooth and Bunny was carrying Jack along with Sandy walking behind them into the workshop. North and Bunny placed the two in two different bedrooms, so they could watch over them. Sandy was in charge of looking after Jack while North was accompanying Tooth. "Well, I guess I'll be going," Bunny said to North. "Right, Bunny, please be careful," North said. "Don't worry, I will, I'll try to be here as quick as possible," he said determined. He then turned and used his power to create a magical hole in front of him, "I'll be quick….I think I have a pretty good idea where Pitch is hiding." He then jumped into the hole, lost in plain sight; the hole closed after he went in. After Bunny was gone, North then turned his attention to Tooth lying on the bed, "Please Tooth…wake up," he said worriedly.

Jack's point of view

I…I can't really tell if this is a dream or a memory? It was night-time again, similar to my previous dream….or I should say nightmare; I was once again alone in the middle of the forest. I slowly walked aimlessly, deeper into the forest, lost, and defeated, honestly I had no idea why I was here, what more could I possible see, seeing myself murdered was already painful enough…what more is there? I then looked around as I walked… I remember back when I was being raised, I actually came here to this forest before, but since it was so long ago my memory of this place is a bit hazy, I guess I forgot about it; I didn't think this place held significant importance. Then as I was walking, all of a sudden a snowflake fell, landing on my nose. I raised my head gazing up at the sky in seeing more falling; the snow was falling freely. I felt so calm and relaxed that I couldn't help but close my eyes and smile, trying to toss away the nightmares that were haunting me. After a while, then it clicked in my mind of what time this was happening, I remember….this is when I first got my staff. I then chuckled a little, remembering that day; it was one of those days when I actually felt like a little kid again. As I focused my attention to the environment around me again, I noticed that just about everything was covered in sweet snow. As I walked deeper, I started to feel the cool sensation underneath my bare-feet; the snow still fell silently, most of it was on my jacket. "Another precious memory…about to be devoured," I whispered; though I still continued to walk deeper into the blissful snow.

As I reached the end of the path, I noticed that there was a huge puddle of ice in front of me; this must be the place where those two boys mention where they were going to dump my body. I then slowly bended down and saw my reflection within the ice. I looked truly awful; I looked run-down, beaten up, tormented, what would you expect? I slowly put my fingers over the ice feeling its cold hard surface. "All this…will fade away," I whispered; my hair now covering my eyes. Silence filed the air as I started to feel the Nightmares coming….they were near. Within the tip of my finger, a sudden crack emerged, slowly breaking the surface of the ice. I…I feel like the ice represents me, it feels like I'm falling apart, being… broken…all because of Pitch. How can I be so blind and let him control my body? Is…what he showed me true….about me being murdered? I'm starting to have doubts, but another voice inside me says it's true….I'm lost…I don't know what to believe anymore. Darkness was swirling around me once more….the Nightmare have come to consume this memory as well.

I then turned my attention from the ice, now facing another version of myself; he was standing on the ice a distance from me, once again I was just a ghost, seeing a memory. He had an extremely happy face when he was holding the wooden stick in his hands. "This doesn't seem much, since it's from a tree, but I can make this useful to my liking," he said. He then waved it back and forward examining it. "It could help me keep my powers more stabled then just having it contained within my body." He thought about it for a while then held the wood high with two hands. "Let this item hold half of my power," he whispered having his eyes closed. Then the wooden stick started to glow blue, after a few seconds then it started to extend longer; the wood became slightly thicker than before. A little bit a frost appeared covering it as well; after a while, it was now molded into a staff…a wooden staff. He then opened his eyes still having that happy face, "Let's see," he turned eyeing one of the trees, "I need to see if it worked."

He walked over to one of the trees and held the staff, giving it a simple tap on the surface of the tree. He then lowered his staff and touched the tree in seeing if there was a change. I saw that he was smiling when he saw a bit of ice forming around the tree. He looked at his staff again, "Cool, it worked," he said smiling jumping up and down. "Spreading winter will be much easier with this now," he said. "Though just to be sure." He then started to run around the icy surface lowering the staff against it; the staff gave off a trail of ice as he ran happily. He then jumped and started to fly up in the sky spreading snowflakes around the forest again; he eventually left to a nearby town leaving me alone. I slowly looked up at the night-sky…gazing at the sight of the creation. A silent tear escape from one of my eyes as I was admiring the beautiful scenery. "So beautiful…so peaceful," I whispered having my eyes closed; though the calm feeling didn't last, in an instant… I suddenly heard the crack of the ice break completely. Due to the Nightmares presents, I felt like if they pushed me in the cold icy water…one of the demons had a hold on me and started to drag me down…deeper into the water. I struggled trying to break free, but couldn't…I felt like I was losing breath; I was drowning. The last thing I saw before I was taken by the shadows….was the presents of the moon again.

"Why…why did you bring me back?"

*Sandy was sitting down on a chair looking over at Jack; he had a rather worried expression on his face. Will Bunny pull through in getting Jack's memories? Will Jack survive the nightmares? All these questions were spinning around in his head. As much as he wanted to help Jack by giving good dreams, it wouldn't do any good since the Nightmares that are implanted in his mind will just eat them away and produce more nightmares which will cause even more distress for Jack. All that everyone can do at the moment was just….wait. Though it was horrible to do even that since he saw how much pain Jack was going through. He kept breathing hard, moaning at times, tossing and turning….everything. "No…no get away from me," Sandy heard him mutter in his sleep. If this keeps up…he won't survive… his well-being will be long gone; nothing left. Pitch could control him and make him do what he desires.

It was awfully dark where Bunny had arrived. As he walked cautiously deeper, he concluded that the place looked similar to a cave or a long dark tunnel. "This place really gives me the creeps….and if it does, then that means I'm in the right place," he said in his mind looking around. "I really have to make this quick…if I'm spotted, it's all over." He continued walking cautiously until he finally reached the end of the path; leading to an entrance. He then quickly hid behind some huge rocks and secretly started to examine the place. The place was practically crawling with the nightmare creatures, but there was no sign of Pitch. As his eyes wandered, he finally found what he was looking for. In a far corner there was a huge pile of Tooth's containers; inside them were the teeth, or in other words the memories. "Yes," he said happy. He then slowly made his way to the pile carefully without being spotted. As he finally reached the pile, he quietly started to move the containers around trying to find Jack's, "Come one, come on, it has to be here," he whispered. As he was starting to lose hope in finding the container, he finally found it; it was really buried; probably to the point where you wouldn't have seen it. Without a second to spare he grabbed it and started heading the way out. "Hopefully I'm not too late." He then made a hole in front of him again and jumped right in, though as it was closing, a figure was watching from a distance in the shadows; he was watching the whole time.

He gave a little laugh seeing the bunny depart. "Even if you do revive him, it won't matter anyways…you guardians have lost," Pitch said stepping out of the shadows. "Within time, all of you will secede to exist, with the fear spreading, children one by one are losing faith in you all and since it's all most Easter, you bunny will be the next to go," he said with a twisted smile. "No one can stop me now!" No one can't even save you all either," he then turned taking out a huge cage; the cage was filled with small fairies that would aid the Tooth fairy with her work. They were all beyond terrified. Especially the one that is closest to Tooth, her name was Baby-tooth.

After a while, Bunny made his way successfully back to the North Pole with the item in hand. "Hopefully I'm not too late," he repeated; running towards the workshop. He banged on the door once when he got there, after a few seconds a yeti opened it and Bunny just ran right it, heading towards Jack's room. He opened the door to find Sandy still accompanying Jack. With all that running he did, he was breathing hard and his heart was pounding rapidly, "Here, I managed to get his memories," he said tiredly, giving the container to Sandy. Though as he had the container in his hands, Sandy stilled looked at Bunny with a sad face. "What…I brought the memories…hurry and use them," Bunny said to him. But Sandy still didn't move; silence filed the air. Bunny's eyes then widen in horror, "No…it can't be…don't tell me were too late?" he said; though he didn't want to hear the answer. Then to Bunny and Sandy's surprise, Jack then suddenly rose up from the bed, still with those yellowish eyes. He looked at them and gave a little chuckle, "The Jack that you all know is now long gone, there is no possible way of reaching him now," a voice said talking through Jack's body.

"Everything will be dragged into fear….the guardians will soon be no more…"


	6. Chapter 6-Cold Yet a Warm Heart

Chapter 6-Cold Yet a Warm Heart

Jack stilled eyed his targets having a smile not moving from the bed. "So….now that we got that out of the way," he said waving his hand, "I'll give you a choice, either you all surrender and follow under Pitch's rules or I'll save the problem for him and eliminate you all now…again your choice," he said calmly with a slight evil smile. But Bunny and Sandy stood their ground, ready to fight, "We will never surrender! We will protect the children with our lives; to save them from the nightmares!" Bunny yelled. Jack gave a slight sigh, "Predictable response….oh well it doesn't matter anyway," he then jumped and got his staff that was resting on a corner, "Just remember I gave you a choice," the staff started to glow, " This will get ugly."

North was in the other room still with Tooth; it was practically a long time since she got knocked out, she would have woken up already, North feared to conclude that Jack really did kill her, he just had to face the fact no matter how much it hurt. Out of the total silence in the room just thinking about it, a loud bang he heard from outside interrupt his thoughts. He jumped up from his seat, "What….what is that noise?" he then slowly made his way to the door and out. North walked and looked out in seeing a large range of smoke, "What the," he said. He then saw Bunny flying back, falling hard against the floor. The container with Jack's memories rolled out of his hand. North eyes widen, "The memories! There still might be a chance!" He then got his swords and ran downstairs to aid Bunny. "Bunny, are you alright?" he asked looking down. "Yeah," he uttered. Then another loud noise was heard, after a second, Sand-man came flying back as well, but hitting himself hard against the wall; he slid down to the floor feeling pain. "No…Jack had awakened," North said in his mind. As he looked at the smoke, he began to see a figure coming towards them; obviously it was Jack; he had his staff over his back.

"The sand worked before," North said in his mind, he then turned to Sandy, who had recovered from the brutal hit, "Sandy, use the dream sand again!" he yelled. Without hesitation, Sandy obeyed North's order and started to create a ball of dream sand in the palm of his hand. He held out his hand and quickly threw the ball, hitting Jack directly on the face. Jack showed slight discomfort since he was making a funny face and was squinting his eyes; trying to get the dust off. But after a couple of seconds, the dust finally disappeared, Jack looked unaffected; not sleepily one bit. He then tiled his head and gave another chuckle, "Dream sand huh, helps people sleep to produce wonderful dreams… sadly though… Jack doesn't have any more sweet dreams to give to us to feed on and since he has no dreams to give… dream sand has no effect," the nightmare said in Jack's body. "What!" North and Sandy looked stunned. Then Jack gave a creepy smile, "Well, I guess were done with the explanation…now it's time for the elimination," once again he rose the staff at them.

"Jack can't be gone forever, isn't there another way we can somehow give the true memories to him?" Bunny asked North while he was getting back on his feet. North examined Jack carefully and then finally got something, "The staff! He can't do anything without the staff, take that away and break it, he is powerless, the nightmare will weaken and it will be a good opening for the memories to fly in…hopefully reaching Jack," North said to Bunny. "Mmmm…sounds like a good idea but it will be difficult since he will never let go of it." "Well we have to try!" Then North ran and charged at Jack, but of course he wasn't at least scared. As North was about to hit him, Jack slightly moved and gave him a small tap on the back. North immediately felt pain running through his body and with a wave of Jack's hand North was sent flying in another direction. Jack started laughing again, "Oh this so much fun." He then turned sharply and tiled his head facing Bunny and Sandy, "So who is next?" Bunny then ran towards Jack, he jumped high and threw a few explosive eggs at him. "Nice," Jack then slammed his staff and a wall of ice appeared in front of him forming a shield, the explosive went off, hitting the shield. "Yawn, this is so child's play," he said rubbing his knuckle against his jacket. Then he snapped his fingers and the ice broke into large pieces of sharp icicles. "Slice," he ordered; the icicle went flying towards Bunny, but he was able to dodge them, though one managed to cut his arm, opening a wound; bleeding. "Oh, yeah, that must hurt," Jack said with a twisted smile being amused. Then Sandy came in having an angry look on his face.

"Huh, yeah, I'm not scared of you," Jack said eyeing at Sandy. "I mean your pathetic little dust has no power over me as I stated before," he said resting his head on the staff. But Sandy still had the same face, not moving an inch. "Go on," he said, "Make a move, I'm waiting." Then Sandy raised his hand to the side and a magical rope made of dust started to appear in his grasp. As the weapon completely formed, in a split second, he motioned the rope to wrap itself around one of Jack's ankles. Jack looked down a little confused, "Huh?" Then as quick as a flash, Sandy pulled the rope and Jack went flying… upside down in the air; dropping his staff. Sandy immediately turned to Bunny and an arrow pointing to the staff appeared above his head. It took time for Bunny to register, but he finally got it and started to run to get the staff from the ground. He picked it up and examined it for a second; then he looked up at Jack hanging, then back at the staff, "I'm sorry Jack," he said. Then he closed his eyes and broke the staff in two. Jack saw what happened; his eyes widen in horror and disbelief. "Noooooooo!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Darkness was starting to appear from his body; it was slowly leaving him. The Nightmare's demonic scream was now being heard instead; he was weakening, feeling the pain since the staff was everything. "Bunny, now, open the container!" North yelled to him. He was walking towards their direction; he finally recovered from the previous attack.

Bunny then quickly got the container from the floor and immediately opened it towards Jack's direction. A bright orb of light appeared out of the container and made its way into Jack's mind; similar to what Pitch did before. "No, no, I refuse to give up this body easily," the Nightmare said angrily trying to fight the pureness of the light; though there was no hope for him since the memories were already inside, it was just a matter of waiting for Jack to regain his well-being again.

Inside Jack's Mind

"Pitch says you were deceived by a lie…but it was just a trick to get you on his side…he was the one that deceived you."

"Jack…you weren't alone when you were human… you weren't even murdered. It was all a trick…a dark illusion. You were happy as can be with your family and friends when you were alive. People showed you kindness and you have also returned it to others….especially to children."

"You may not fully remember, but you always had a special connection when it came to children. You would play with them, make them smile and laugh when they were feeling down; you may be mischievous and a jokester at times, but underneath all that, you are a sweet caring person….a loving person to be around with."

Flashback

Hey, how about I tell you a bed time story before you drift to sleep? I'm pretty sure it will help," Jack offered giving a small smile. Then Melody's sad face disappeared, showing a happy smile. "Okay," she said. "Alright, then let's go." He then picked her up and carried her, walking through the hallway into her room.

"Thank you for the short story Jack," Melody said lying in her bed. Jack then pulled the covers close to her, tucking her in, "Glad you liked it, and don't worry, if you think positive thoughts, those nightmares won't bother you, and if they do, I'll be there to protect you," Jack said patting her on the head. She giggled a little, "Goodnight." "Goodnight, sweet dreams," Jack said; he then turned off her lamp and started making his way out the door.

"You really have a way with children…even when you're not fully aware of it."

"What is a guardian you may ask? Well it is simple…it is a person who is selfless and protects the children's beliefs, hopes, and pure dreams….they protect the children."

"Believe it or not…you are the most selfless person I have ever seen in my long life. You did something to protect your younger sister…you wanted her to be safe no matter what happened to you…you loved her."

"I was so touched by your selfless act… that I wanted to give you a second chance to continue… which is why I brought you back."

"You were destined to become a guardian…hence why I chose you to be on the team…you are a valuable addition and we do respect you. Underneath the ice and snow that make up your existence, you have a warm caring heart."

"Then if I wasn't murdered….how did I really die?" I spoke staring up at the light.

"It happened in the forest as you remember in your dreams, but this is what truly happened."

Flash Black

It was a bright sunny day in the forest. The brown-haired boy known as Jack was walking happily admiring how much his sister was having fun. "Come on, Jack," she said running ahead of him smiling. Jack just gave a small laugh, "Okay, I'm coming; just don't wander off too far." "Yeah, I know!" she yelled still running. She then made her way deeper in the forest, only to find a huge frozen puddle that was in the end of the path. She raised an eye-brow, "Huh, frozen ice, but it's sunny," she said to herself. "Shouldn't all this have melted already?" she then jumped on the surface of the ice, it was so slippery that she fell and ended up sliding farther in the middle. She moved her fingers along the surface, "Well it seems to be still solid." Then out of nowhere she heard her brother's voice, "Hey, nice work, you found a place where we can skate…that is if we had skates with us at the moment," he said cautiously stepping on the ice. His sister just giggled. She then turned her attention to the sky for a moment, "Yeah, well I guess we better be going home…our parents are really strict when we don't follow the rules you know," she said getting up from the ice. Jack sighed, "Yeah," then he suddenly started to hear a crack.

He looked down and noticed the crack was emerging underneath his sister. He knew in that instant that she noticed and was frozen in panic and fear. "I have to keep her calm," he said in his mind. He then kneeled down to her level, "Jack, I'm scared," she said; the hole was starting to grow. "No, don't be, just keep your eyes on me…were…were going to play a little game," he said trying to comfort her. Then he noticed that a crack was also emerging underneath him as well, but he kept calm for his sister's sake. He then moved his eyes to the side and noticed a long stick, so he slowly grabbed it, "Just keep your eyes on me…look… when I count to three, I want you to close your eyes and jump," he said slightly moving to the side. "Okay." "One….two," he moved the stick closer to her legs, "Three!" he then moved the stick to motion her to another direction as she jumped. He also jumped to the opposite direction since the spot where he was at was cracking. She made it and slid off the ice. He smiled due to the fact that she was safe, though before he knew it, the ice broke underneath him resulting in him to fall in the cold water. The girl turned with fear in her eyes, "Jack!" she yelled running back on the ice. She looked at the hole, "No…Jack," she whispered. Tears were starting to form in her eyes dripping down her face. She refused to believe the possible outcome; she was hoping Jack was just playing a cruel joke and that he will be okay; popping out shivering from the cold water, but okay. Though after a few minutes of waiting, she knew that is was real and that she had lost her brother. A silent tear fell; landing in the cold water. Jack silently sank deeper into the water, his body was lost in plain sight.

"It was heart-aching…but you sacrificed yourself to save her…that is what matters the most."

"So I really had a sister…a family…friends, due to my selfless act, I got another life, I guess I really am a guardian…I just never really realized it," I said with a warm smile; though a tear still fell due to seeing my sister's pain of losing me. "Thank you for the truth," I whispered looking up having my eyes closed. I felt the Nightmares lose their grip on me, disappearing. The warm light was casting them away, finally giving me freedom and happiness. I felt my whole body being healed from all the wounds I have gotten from them; I was bathed in the warmness of the light; my dreams, and precious memories…they're back; they have been revived.

"I'm not a guardian just because the moon told me so…it's because of all the people I've connected with; my sister, my family, my friends, even the children who don't see me; I create a world for them so they can have fun and be carefree like any child should be. Just seeing them laugh, smile and play in my creation, makes me feel like I have made a connection some -how…I feel like I was always a guardian the day I was reborn; just never knew it…the moon just guided me to the truth I already seem to know."

Back to Reality

"Jack, Jack, wake up, can you hear us?" I heard a voice say; though it took me a while to respond, I kind of felt drowsy like if I woke up from a very… very long nap. I then opened my eyes and noticed that North, Sandy, and Bunny were circled around me. I didn't know what was going, "Huh….hi," I know it was dumb, but I was just lost in what to say. Then they all smiled, "Okay, your smiles are really freaking me out," I said getting up from the floor. As I was brushing dust off my jacket, I was unexpectedly attacked by the three with hugs. "Jack, you're truly back, for a minute we thought we have lost you completely," North said still hugging me. It took me a few seconds to remember what happened, and the first thing that came to mind was Pitch; he tried to smother me with his nightmares, though what I said and did when I was controlled was a total blur. "Yeah…I'm back," I said. Then I noticed Bunny's cut, "Huh, I'm sorry that I tried to kill all of you," I said scratching the back of my head. "No, worries mate, it wasn't really your fault after all, it was those stupid nightmares," Bunny said. "But I'm sorry that we have bad news for you," he continued. "What is it?" Then that's when he showed me my staff; holding them in his two hands. My eyes widen in disbelief, "My…my staff," I said getting the broken pieces from Bunny.

My staff….most of my power….gone; shattered into pieces. I then turned to North, "Why did you break it?" "Because it was the only way we can save you…we had to weaken you in order to revive you…I'm sorry Jack," he said. I then turned back to the pieces, collapsing to my knees; I felt like I wanted to cry, but I didn't. "Huh, what's…what's happening to me? I suddenly feel strange?" I heard Bunny say. We all turned our attention to him and he was glowing. "What is going on?" I asked. "Oh no, we were too busy with saving you, I didn't have enough time to prepare for Easter, today is Easter in the human world…the children…they're losing faith in me," Bunny said looking at himself. He then began to shrink; turning into a small cute bunny. "Oh no, this bad," he repeated, but I couldn't help but laugh since how cute he was now. "Stop laughing, this is serious," he said, "If this keeps up…I'll disappear." Then from nowhere a flow of darkness appeared behind us. Evil laugher was echoing in the darkness, "Pitch," I said angrily.

Pitch stepped out of the darkness looking at us, "Awww, well it seems your back in reality, but at a price of losing your powers, poor shame," he said. "What do you want!" I yelled. "Well I just came here to get a last look of this place, before I change it up to my liking, as we speak, children's dreams are beginning to fade, which makes me more powerful than all of you, no one can't stop me now, you all are too late. I mean think about it, JackFrost is powerless, Bunnymund can't to a thing since he is small, Sandy's dream sand is now ineffective since the Nightmares have grown more powerful, Tooth is dead, and without the others support, North can't really do much either, so the odds of you all winning are very slim," he said amused. Tooth…is….dead? My eyes widen in horror, no it can't be true. I didn't want it to be true. "What do mean Tooth is dead!" I asked him, though he just laughed at me, "You clearly don't remember do you…ask your fellow guardians…they'll tell you, in the meantime I better be going, I want to see my nightmares consume everything…bye," then he started to disappear. "Wait!" I yelled getting up, but he was gone.

Then I dropped my two broken wooden pieces, and turned facing the group; they had sad expressions on their faces. "You see, at the moment of fighting you, you were not in control of your actions, Jack," North said, " Remember it's not your fault because of the nightmares… when we were fighting you, you happened to choke Tooth to death, we didn't want to believe it either, but I do believe she is gone, I'm sorry." No…it can't be. I looked at my hands in disgust….I…I killed her. I then looked up at North, "Where is she?" "In her room, come I'll take you to her." So with that said, I slowly walked into another part of the workshop with the gang.

After a while we finally reach her room, "You can go in, we will stay out here, giving you some privacy," North said. "Yeah," Bunny said along with Sandy nodding yes."Okay." So I slowly opened the door and closed it softly behind me. I was hoping that what they said wasn't true, but when I saw her lifeless body lying on the bed, I felt speechless and frozen. After a few seconds of registering what I was seeing, I slowly walked over to her and looked at her; it looked like if she was sleeping peacefully. I then leaned close to her, "You may not hear me, but even though they say it's not my fault, I feel like it is, and for that…I'm sorry…I'm deeply sorry, I wish I could take it back," I said softly; trying to hold back my tears. I then picked her up gently, practically cradling her in my arms. I couldn't help it…tears were forming and were dripping down my face.

"Even when I'm free from the haunting nightmares…I feel like I have been sucked right back in…."

I felt the wetness of the tears on my face as I was holding her dearly in my arms…."


	7. Chapter 7-No! There is Still Hope

Chapter-7 N0! There is Still Hope

Even though I completely felt broken inside, I managed to pull myself together…I was tired of being defeated….I had to be strong….maybe the chances of us winning and defeating Pitch are slim, but…I still believe there is hope…I will not stand-by and watch the children suffer. I am a guardian! And I'll do want ever I can to protect them! I then gently put Tooth back on the bed, whipping the remaining tears away that I have shed for her. As I was still looking at her, a thought then came to me, "If Pitch and everyone else says she is dead, then why is her existence still here…if she was truly gone, she would have disappeared right when I supposedly killed her." Could a few kids still believe in her? It was very strange… the more I thought about it, the more it didn't make sense to me. After a while of collecting my thoughts together, I made my way out of the room, closing the door silently. I rested my back against it; I was staring at the floor while my hair was covering a part of my face.

"Are you okay Jack?" North asked. "Yeah, I'll get through it, believe it or not I've dealt with these kind of things before," I said looking up facing the group. "Again, sorry we broke your staff," he said. "I get it, you all were trying to help me, but even though Pitch said I'm powerless, I would say he's half right." "What do you mean?" Bunny asked. "Well when I got the staff, I put most of my power in it, not all of it, but now since it's broken, I can only manage to do little things…mostly just freeze a portion of things and create snow balls with my ice breath, without my staff, I can't really do the big things like blizzards, snow storms, winds etc If I tried, it would take a chunk load of time for me to finish than just doing it in a second. I can't even fly either." I said. Then I saw Bunny chuckling a little, "I guess the idea of having a weapon containing your power backfired," he said with a small laugh. Though I wasn't at all amused, I pointed my finger at him and a small beam of ice shot out of it freezing his small tail, making him jump. "Ouch! Cold… cold…cold!" he said jumping around. "Like you said before, this isn't funny, we have a major problem on our hands at the moment," I said to him. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he said calming down.

"But hey, I got an idea," Bunny said. "What?" the rest of us asked, though I raised one of my eyebrows. "I was thinking, if the memories helped Jack diminish the nightmares, why not we collect the rest of the children's memories and do the same?" he asked "Well, it sounds like a good idea, but at this state, I have doubts it would work , it worked for Jack since he had a slightly different case," North said, "The Nightmares are only scaring the children and making lies to make them lose faith in us, while for Jack, the Nightmares were practically eating him alive, making him lose faith in his own existence which caused his body to be possessed by one of those dreadful shadows." "Yeah, that's more torture some than just a simple scare," I muttered; not wanting to be reminded of the nightmares devouring and tormenting me. "Since memories are the significant key to remind a person on who they are, it was the only solution that we had to help Jack understand who he was again to bring him back," North finished. I thought for a moment… then finally spoke, "Well memories or no memories, it doesn't hurt to try, I mean it's better than doing nothing and let Pitch believe he won," I then walked over to bunny and picked him up.

"You know, I kind of like this new look, you just look so adorable," I said jokily to him; though by the look of his face, he didn't like the fact that I called him adorable. Then I turned to North and Sandy still having Bunny in my arms, "So even though it might not work, we still have to collect them anyway since they were stolen to begin with…so I never thought I would say this, but I believe we should go with little kangaroo's idea," I said to them rubbing his soft head smiling. "How many times to do I have to tell you….I'm a bunny!" he pouted. "Sorry, force of habit," I said chuckling. "Then I guess I'll go and get them since I feel like I'm the one for the job," North said. "You all can stay here to make sure Pitch doesn't come back," then he pointed one of his swords at Bunny, "Bunny you know where Pitch's hide out is, make a hole so I can be led there." Then Bunny jumped out of my arms to the floor, "Okay, but just be quick." "Yeah, yeah just make the hole." Bunny then did what he was told and made the hole, without another word, North jumped right in and disappeared as the hole closed up.

"Now what do I do?" I muttered. I felt like I should have been the one to go along side with North, but he only said for me to stay since I'm weak at the moment. I then slowly made my back to collect my broken staff from the floor. As I did, I noticed the world map in front of me; I remembered this is what Tooth showed me the day I first arrived to this place; or to be correct, kidnapped and dragged here. I walked closer to the globe examining it more closely, seeing all the small elegant lights flickering around every part of the world. "Each light represents a child… and good or bad, naughty or nice, we protect them," I remembered that's what she and North said to me. Though it seemed like the nightmare continued since within every second, a light faded; one by one, right after another. In this situation, it really did seem one side on who was going to win. The globe looked completely dull as all the lights faded out, or so I thought. I moved my body and looked closer, there was still one light left, burning strong. "There is still one that believes….but who? If this kid still believes, he or she could be the key in making others believe again as well. Hopefully making us strong again and weaken Pitch. Then a thought occurred to me, but if this child is our last hope, Pitch will surely come and try to diminish the last light, the child is in danger! I…I have to go and look for the child, to protect his or her dreams; I have to keep the light from fading out.

I then looked at my broken staff again, "I'm tired of letting Pitch push me around, I have to try…for the sake of the children." I then closed my eyes and prayed with all my might, putting the broken pieces together, "Please work…please work….please work," I constantly said. I gave it all I got, to recreate what I've lost by using the small power I had left. My first attempt failed since the pieces shifted apart, not reattaching themselves, but I didn't give up; I couldn't give up. I then firmly put the pieces together again and tried to mend them once more. After a few seconds, to my surprise, my second attempt started to work; the pieces were becoming whole; the ice around the staff was mending the broken pieces together. My eyes widen in happiness as the staff began to glow blue; Yes, I managed to get my full power back, there is still hope. The staff was now complete and in my grasp again; I'm back.

"Guys!" I ran back to find Bunny and Sandy; they were still in the hall outside Tooth's door. I ran up to them, almost losing my breath, "Guys, I've got good news," I managed to say to them breathing hard. Bunny and Sandy looked stunned since they saw that my staff wasn't in pieces anymore, "Yeah, yeah, I know, I fixed my staff, but that's not the major good news, I looked at the globe, and there is still a child that believes in you all. The memories aren't the key this time, it's the child, he or she can make others believe again, it will diminish the nightmares, weaken Pitch, bring you to normal size again, and wake Tooth up. All we have to do, is to keep that belief from fading out; the key is nothing more, but to believe." "Oh, then we got to let North know," Bunny said. "Well then I'll go, we have to act fast before Pitch finds out and goes after the child." "Okay, I'll make another hole for you, again please hurry." "Yeah, I know." With that said, Bunny made the hole and I immediately jumped right in.

It really felt like a roller coaster ride as I was falling deeper in the hole; since everything was happening so fast, I couldn't really see anything, but after a few seconds, I managed to see a light through the end of the hole. I went right through it and hit myself hard against the surface of the ground. "Ouch… wasn't really expecting that," I said while getting up rubbing my head. After a few seconds of recovering from the slight pain, I then started to hear noises from a distance. I raised my staff, and walked cautiously towards the noise; walking deeper and deeper in the tunnel. After a while of walking, I finally reached the end of the path and was now in front of the entrance. I then looked down and saw that North was collecting all the children's teeth, putting them in his special magical bag. "North!" I yelled. He then turned and saw me flying down towards him. His eyes widen, "Jack you got your power back?" "Yeah, but that's not really the main reason why I'm here." "Why then?" "I came here to tell you that there is another way we can bring Pitch down, and the key is a child, there is this kid out there that still believes and if he or she gets a few others to believe again, the nightmares will disappear and Pitch will be weak, we don't need the memories." "Oh, well it seems like a plan then." "Yeah, pretty much, I'm sure it will work, but of course like I said before, we still need to take the teeth back since they were stolen." "Yeah, I know," he continued to stuff some more in the bag.

Then unexpectedly I started to hear unusual noises, "What…what is that?" I asked. Then North turned, "I don't know, first time I hear it actually." I examined the cave and listened closely, "Sounds like it's coming from over there." So I flew up towards the source. "Be careful Jack!" "I know." I flew up reaching the source, it seemed like the sound was coming from the shadows; it sounded like flapping noises; though I was being cautious as I was walking closer and closer. I then slowly reached out my hand and grabbed something that felted like metal; the more I felt it, the more convinced I was that it was a bar I was grabbing; like if it was cage. So I ended up pulling it out from the shadows and saw more clearly on what was inside. My eyes widen in shock, it was Tooth's little fairies. I had no idea that Pitch had captured them as well. They were all making noises and were happy to see me, though out of the crowd of them, one flew out and was close to me; both of us were staring face to face; it was Baby-tooth. "Baby-tooth, are you okay?" I said looking at her then at everyone else in the cage. She looked at me and nodded her head yes; I'm assuming she was now, since I was here to help her and the rest. "I'm sorry I let Pitch capture you all, but don't worry I'm going to get you out."

So without another word, I step back and raised my staff at the lock. With all my strength, I hit the lock and managed to break it, along with creating a hole for the fairies to escape out of. All of them immediately flew out flying around the cave freely. After a few seconds, then Baby-tooth came out and flew towards me. I didn't expect it, but I guess for being grateful on what I did, she gave me a little kiss on the check. I then extended out my hand and she rested on my palm, "Your welcome," I said smiling. I then looked at North who was now ready to leave with his sack, "Ah, good thing I have this, he said pulling out his special item. He then threw it and a portal to the North Pole opened. Immediately all the fairies flew inside before North could step in, he then turned to us, "Come on, let's go, times a wasting," he then turned back and started to walk in. "Well let's go," I said lowering my hand. She hovered for a second then flew up resting on my shoulder. "Fine, you can stay there, I don't really mind," I said. I then jumped off and flew towards the portal now arriving in front of the North Pole.

* * *

*"Jamie, come on, get down from there and face the facts," a boy said to him. Jamie was on top of a stack of boxes he had put on top of each other, he was looking around the gutters to see if the Easter bunny had hid an egg there. "No, not here," he muttered, he then slowly got off and walked up to his group of friends. "Face, what facts, I told you the Easter bunny is real, I saw him with my own two eyes, along with Santa, Sand-man and especially the Tooth-fairy," Jamie said trying to convince his friends. Then a girl came in, "Look Jamie, I'm sorry, but they just don't exist, I have lost a tooth a day ago, put it under my pillow, and the next morning it was still there." "No, I'm telling you it was real, or at least it felt like it." "Well, we have come to realize the truth, all I have been having recently is nightmares, you on the other hand should be grateful you still have dreams like that," the same boy said to him. "But-"then Jamie started to have doubts. "Look, you can continue to have this pointless egg hunt if you want to, but it's freezing out here, so we are heading home…see you later Jamie," he said waving, walking off into another direction. "Yeah, bye" the girl said leaving. Then the remaining couple left as well, leaving Jamie all alone. "I want to say they're real, but what if my friends are right and it was all a wonderful dream," Jamie said sadly looking down at the snow. He then walked slowly back inside his house.

No doubt from a distance someone was watching in the shadows, it was Pitch. "So this boy is the last light, he is the one that is standing in my way of complete victory," he said angrily. "But no matter, by the look in his face, I'd say about an hour or two, his dream will shatter and his light will fade, leaving me to finally be the ruler." "Though, just to be safe, if things don't go as planned, I have another trick up my sleeve for the boy, I refuse to let anything stand in my way."

"The last light is starting to dim …


	8. Chapter 8-Believing is Seeing

Chapter 8- Believing Is Seeing

North burst through the double doors with his sack, of course, I was walking behind him along with the fairies. As we arrived, Bunny came hopping in with a horrified expression on his face. North put down the sack, "What is it Bunny, spit it out!" "It's…it's the nightmares, they have become more powerful…since nightmares are scaring the children, they can't have good dreams, and since Sandy's dream sand is ineffective… he started to disappear when you two were gone." My eyes widen, "What! You mean to tell us that Sandy is gone!?" I asked. "Yes!" then he looked at his small paws, they were slowly becoming see-through, "And I fear that I'm next," he said worriedly. No, the last child is starting to lose faith too! There isn't much time, I have to go and look for him or her. I then gentle got Baby-tooth from my shoulder and had her in my palm, "Look, I know you want to come with me, but I think for now it is best you stay here, I don't want you to get captured again." After a few moments she nodded her head, agreeing to stay. "Good." She then slightly flew off my hand and accompanied her own kind. Without another word, I then started to head out, "Jack! Jack wait, where are you going, we need a plan," I heard North say to me; though I kept walking. "We have no more time, we have to keep the last light from fading!" I yelled still walking out. I think he might have said something else to me, but I didn't really quite catch it since I was already out the door. I took off like a rocket, soaring through the sky searching for the town that I remember seeing the light giving off.

After an hour or two, I finally arrived at the destination; though by the time I got there, it was already night-time. Without a second to spare, I swopped down and started to search every house, hoping I would sense the child's presents. Within every window I looked, there was nothing but darkness inside; things seemed almost pointless since I didn't know who I was really looking for. At the moment of almost giving up, something caught my eye from a distance. As I flew closer, I saw a small light coming from within the window. So due to my curiosity I always had, I got even closer and looked inside. The light that I saw was coming from a small lamp, as I moved to the side to see more on what was inside, I saw that I was looking inside a child's bedroom; or to be more clear, a young boy's bedroom. The boy was lying on his bed, cradling a small stuff bunny rabbit in his arms; he looked down upon it with a sad expression on his face. Could he be the last light…I wonder.

Very silent like the snow, I started to listen to his small conversation. The boy held up the rabbit close to his face, "I want to believe you are real….but for some reason I'm starting to have doubts…" I then put my hand on the cold glass, "He is the last light." He continued, "I…I need proof… to know you are real…please, it doesn't have to be big, I only need a small sign to know…." he pleaded. It felt like I had a lump in my throat, I knew that nothing will happen since bunny is in a terrible condition…the light was fading; his dream was slowly being shattered like glass. He waited a few seconds then closed his eyes and gave a sad sigh, "I knew it," he then dropped the rabbit; it fell to the floor. The boy looked like he wanted to cry. My eyes widen, "No…he can't toss it away…the Easter Bunny, Santa, Sand-man, and the Tooth-fairy, they are real!" Though it seemed like I was useless since he couldn't see me at all, at this point, believing in me or not didn't matter, I had to do something.

I then closed my eyes and took a deep breath; inhaling and exhaling. I haven't done this before, but like people say, first time for everything. I slowly raised my finger and with the cold already provided for me; I started to draw on the window, hoping the boy will turn and see. I made a small Easter egg along with a bunny above it; with the noises I was making, I saw that I finally got the boy's attention. He had a rather confused expression on his face of what was going on; He kept looking at my creation on the surface of the window. After I finally completed the drawing, I then dissolved into snow and reappeared inside his room; though he still didn't see me. He got off the bed and walked closer to the drawing on the window. I then put my staff to the side and gently raised my hands towards the window, cupping them together. Using a piece of my magic, I pulled out the drawing of the bunny from the window, as I did; it came alive in my two hands. I then turned in seeing that the boy was smiling. After another second, I then let go of my creation, it started to jump, flying around the boy's room. His eyes lit up in happiness, he then ran and got back on the bed again, I'm assuming he was trying to catch it; though it exploded into snow as he tried.

The snow fell on top of him; within a second, his whole room was now snowing. By the look on his face, I felt like I did my job in getting him to believe again. I managed to save the last light from burning out; now there is a chance to give off that light to the others. After a while of admiring the child's happiness, I then walked off and got my staff, "Now, that I bought everyone some time, I can go back to North and Bunny to see what exactly is our next move." Though before I was about to leave, something that the boy said surprisingly made me stop in my tracks, "Jack…Jack Frost?" he whispered.

My eyes widen, I couldn't really tell if he had said my name, or if my mind was playing tricks on me. I turned and directly gave eye contact, "Jack Frost?" he repeated looking at me. I was frozen; I didn't really know what to say. I guess it had been so long since I have been seen by a child, that I have forgotten the feeling. I walked closer to him and smiled, "Yes, that's me, you…you can see me?" I asked, wanting to make sure. He smiled, "Y-Yeah, I mean come on, snow magically started to appear in my room…who else can I think of who has the power of winter," he said. Then I slowly jumped on his bed; both of us staring face to face, "Right… you believed in me, that's why you can see me, this is real, you're not dreaming." Then his eyes lit up, "If you're here, that means everyone else is real too." "Yes, we are real, it's just a matter of believing and I didn't want you to throw that away," I said patting his head. He giggled a little, "By the way, my name is Jamie." "Yeah, that's nice to know since we didn't really greet each other properly." "Yeah," we both ended up laughing together.

Though the pleasant moment started to fade; from out of nowhere, I started to get a strange feeling that we were being watched. For a split second, everything felt quiet; not a single sound to be heard. I moved my eyes from to side to side examining the room for something unusual, but there was nothing. That is until I turned my attention to Jamie himself, he was oblivious to what I was looking at, but in that instant, I saw an unusual dark shadow underneath him. My eyes widen, it was one of the Nightmares. A hand started to form and I knew it was going to strike at him. Without really much thinking, I quickly act, "Jamie, look out!" I yelled; I pushed him off the bed and at the same time the hand attacked. It felt like déjà vu again since the shadows struck me instead, with its shadowy blade thrust against my back. Pitch…he knows Jamie is the last believer and if Nightmares can't break his dreams, then he….he will probably attempt to kill him. I looked up and saw that Jamie was frozen in fear and shock, "Jamie don't worry about me, please go, run, "I choke out from the pain I was feeling. Though he was still stunned and didn't move.

Once again, Pitch emerged out of the darkness. "Oh, look who has been caught in my trap," he said laughing. I heard footsteps and eventually saw Pitch standing in front of me, he then kneeled down to my level; both of us staring face to face. He grabbed my chin and pulled me in closer, "I'm surprise you even got this far Jack, I'm actually very impressed, I'm mean look at it, you have been successfully suffocated by my Nightmares, yet you somehow got back into reality, your friends made you powerless and useless, yet you somehow managed to get it back in your grasp and now I find you here trying to protect the boy." I then made a little chuckle, "I'm hard to get rid of." "Yes, but not for long, your done meddling into other people's business…I'll make sure to personally dispose of you after I'm done with the child…after when I'm done with him…all the children in the world will be consumed in their own fear." "I'm not afraid of you…no matter what, dreams will always prevail." Then he made a face, "Mmmm…so sure of yourself huh," then I saw that he snapped his fingers. I immediately felt the shadow's blade disappear from my back, I thought that was it, but then I felt something wrap around me and was sent flying back against the wall. I couldn't move at all. I then looked up and saw that Pitch was creating a dark spear, "So you won't interfere anymore, I'll just kill you now," he said aiming at my chest. My jacket was already covered in blood due to my back; but a stabbed to the heart will surely end one's life no matter if they're mortal or not. I couldn't move….I couldn't do anything….I was going to die…..well… at least… I died trying….

* * *

*As Pitch was going to deliver the final blow, all that can be heard was the sound of Jamie screaming, his eyes blinded with tears, "Noooooooo! STOP!"


	9. Chapter 9- So it Must be Finally the End

Chapter 9- So it Must be Finally the End

Pitch held the dark spear firmly in his grasp; ready to strike. At this point since children don't believe anymore…I was practically helpless; no matter how much I fought to break free…it was no use. After all that I have been through, the Nightmares still managed to have a hold on me. Before I was ready to fade into nothing, I slowly moved my head to the side and saw Jamie's face, wet with tears in his innocent eyes. "No…" I heard him whisper faintly. "It has been nice knowing you Jack…..die," and in that instant, he let go of the spear; like the wind, it flew towards my direction. I couldn't look, so I immediately closed my eyes and waited for the spear to pierce my body. The sound I heard, was the sound of Jamie screaming, "Nooo! STOP!" he pleaded with all his might. And….in that moment…everything became quiet; similar to the fallen snow.

I was expecting pain throughout my body, but for some reason, I never felt it. "What! What is this?!" I heard Pitch say angrily. So then I opened one of my eyes and saw that my chest was glowing; giving off light "Huh?" I then opened my other eye. I saw that the light was protecting me; it looked like if it was presenting itself as an unbreakable barrier, or in other words, a shield. The blade couldn't go through; instead it dissolved into the light. The shadows that were holding me were also affected as well; the purity of the light diminished them, letting me go. I wasn't completely aware of it, but I think the light healed me as well, since I touched my jacket and there was no blood, I was good as new. As I finally got back on my feet, I saw that Pitch had let his guard down and was confused on what had happened; this was my chance to strike.

I immediately got in front of Pitch and with a forceful hit, I sent him flying back, though as he flew, I saw that he faded out of the window and started to fly, running away. At this point, I knew that he was weakening. Then unexpectedly from nowhere, I heard the front door open. I turned and saw that it was Jamie's mother. "Jamie, are you okay? I heard a loud voice, it sounded like a scream," she said with a worried expression. "Oh, no, it was nothing mom, really, I'm okay, I just…fell of the bed and screamed, but I'm okay," he said a little nervous. "Oh, well, okay then, just be careful next time," with that said, she closed the door and left. He then turned and looked at me, "Was that who I thought it was…you know, the Boogie man; the one who scares people. What is going on? "he said. "Yes, he is the Boogie man, but his proper name is Pitch-Black, but Pitch for short, and what is going on, is that he is trying to get all the children to stop believing," I said. "Oh, that explains why my friends have been acting this way." "Yeah, and I was thinking if we got more children to believe again, Pitch will weaken, and the nightmares will secede to exist," I said slowly walking towards the window. He thought for a moment, "Well I can come with you, you can take me to my friends, I'll explain to them and surely they'll believe me now," he said excitedly. Even though I didn't really like the idea of him coming with me, I took a chance, I had a feeling that this nightmare will definitely end with more support from children.

As I flew off into the night-sky, I was holding Jamie. He seemed pretty happy since this was his first time flying; who could blame him really, I remember I had the exact same feeling when I was barely getting the hang of flying when I was younger. I flew house to house; hovering in front of every window as Jamie would knock, waking them from bed. A girl came out and was surprised to see Jamie, "Jamie, how are you doing that?" He giggled, "It's because of Jack Frost." "Jack Frost?" I then turned away from their brief conversation, and saw something flying closer in the sky. As it came down on the streets, I recognized it was Santa's sleigh; North, and Bunny were in there along with Baby-tooth and the rest of the fairies following them. "Guys!" I was beyond excited to see them, so I swooped down taking Jamie with me.

I landed in front of the sleigh and sat Jamie down; I saw that his face lit up from seeing Santa, though when he saw bunny, it was a different story, " Easter Bunny, what happened to you, you didn't look like this when I first saw you," Jamie said confused. "Long story, but it's temporary," he then turned at me, "Did you tell him I looked like this?!" Though before I could speak, Jamie spoke, "No, not really, he's the one that got me into believing in you again." "Oh, he did…" I then smiled, "Consider it even, I mean you saved me before so might as well return the favor by saving you from fading away." "Oh….thanks mate, I really appreciate it." I then turned my attention to North, "And what about Tooth?" "She's still at the North Pole, don't worry, she's being looked after by the elves and yetis' there."

"Look over there, there they are!" I heard voices from a distance; we all turned our attention to see a group of kids running towards our direction. "It's Santa, the Easter bunny and Jack Frost!" all the kids said happily gathering around us. "I told you they were real!" Jamie exclaimed.

Everything seemed bright and happy, that is, until we all saw from a distance a large amount of shadows coming in our direct along with Pitch. We all stood our ground, ready to fight; we gently pushed the children behind us to protect them. Pitch glared at us, "So this is what it has come to, guardians, a question if I may ask, if you are willingly to protect the children, well, who will protect you?" In that moment, without hesitation, I saw that Jamie stepped up in front of me, "I will," he stated. After that, the other children followed, "We will too." Then that's when it hit me, back when I was being held against the wall about to be stabbed, the light that was a shield that protected me and healed me, it was Jamie who did that; without really knowing it, he protected me….he saved me, which weaken the nightmares and Pitch.

Pitch just looked at us with disgust, "Well, this will be fun, go my nightmares attack!" he ordered pointing at us. Then without a moment to spare, the nightmares charged at us. North ran slicing each one with his swords as bunny tried to use what he could to fight with. I held my staff firmly in my grasp, staring at the soulless creatures. "Stand back," I stated to Jamie in a serious tone. So much anger and rage was building up within me; thinking about what he did to me, seeing Tooth lifeless on the bed, seeing Baby-tooth captured, contained in a cold heartless cage, and to top it off, Sandy being gone due to the lack of dreams, all these connected chains of events due to Pitch's scheme. My staff started to glow blue as I raised it towards the demons. I HAD IT! IT'S TIME TO END THIS! I screamed at the top of my lungs charging at the nightmares; I immediately used my staff to freeze every single one of them as they came close to me. Within a second, all the nightmares that were charging at us were frozen. North and Bunny were surprised since they never saw me do this ability before to a wide range of people in a second, or instead of saying people, I should say creatures in this case; though I'm not really surprised that they are surprised since no one really knows what I can really do with my power. I then snapped my fingers and immediately all the frozen nightmares shattered into small crystallized ice pieces. I walked and looked down the shattered remains, "Good riddance…" I said under my breath.

Then from a distance I started to hear the group of children clapping and cheering, it felt weird since I'm not really use to it, but they were calling out my name in excitement. "Jack Frost defeated the nightmares and he wasn't afraid at all!" a child said. "Yeah, if he can do that then we can do the same by conquering our own fears!" another child said. "Yeah, we don't have to be afraid anymore," another stated. I couldn't help but smile by hearing their comments; it meant so much to me that they saw me as someone great. I then turned my attention to Pitch, by the look on his face, I can say he had lost; the children are no longer in the influence of nightmares and that their beliefs, hopes and dreams have been revived. "No! This can't be! No, I won't allow it, you all shall fear me!" he said running towards the children, but it didn't do any good since the children went right through him; they are not his fearlings anymore. They all ran to our side again leaving Pitch.

"Hey, look," I heard Jamie say; pointing to Bunny. I turned my attention and saw that he was slowly growing back to his original size again. All the children, including him gathered together around Bunny hugging him. All the pieces that broke were forming together as a whole again. I then turned my attention up to the sky and could see that morning was almost arriving, but as I looked, a wave of sand stared to appear and it eventually formed itself into the Sand-man; he was back. "Sandy, you're back!" I said happily; he greeted me with a friendly smile. "Nice to have you back," I said.

Everything was great, until I suddenly started to hear a voice in my head; it was Pitch once again, "You have won Jack, but it's not over, no, this is far from being over, I was getting my revenge on the man in the moon, but now my soul target will be you now, one day I'll get my revenge on you…until we meet again…soon" he whispered. I then sharply turned my attention to the position he was at and he was gone; hiding in the dark shadows once more. I didn't know what to think, but I immediately shook off the feeling when Sandy was spreading dream sand up in the sky; I guess we have to take the kids home before sun officially rises. So while everyone was taking someone home, I nonetheless volunteered to take Jamie back home.

After a quiet flight to Jamie's house, I hovered in front of his bedroom window while he slowly opened it to get inside. After everything that I have been through, it was finally over….at least for now; Jamie and all the other children were safe. He finally opened the window and steadily stepped inside; though I didn't really follow him in, I just stayed hovering close to the window. He turned and looked at me with an innocent smile, "So now what Jack?" "Well, believe it or not, it is time for me to go," I said to him. I saw that his smile faded and came closer to the window, "You're leaving…but…but what if Pitch comes back and makes us stop believing in you all again, what if-." That's when I put my finger over his mouth to quiet and settle him down. I smiled and chuckled a little, "Hey, slow down, slow down," I then moved my finger and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Tell me, do you stop believing in the moon when the sun comes up?" He looked down slightly, "Well, no," he said. "Well, do you stop believing in the sun when the clouds block it out?" "No," he repeated. "We will always be here Jamie… inside here," I then moved my hand away and pointed to his chest. "It's not a matter of seeing to believe Jamie…as long as you just believe; we will always be with you in your heart."I then picked up his chin so he can face me, "Cheer up," he then smiled. "And you may not know it, but in a way, it's like you're a guardian too, you believed while others lost sight of it and after everything that happened, you made them believe again, you even protected me when I needed help the most, you saved me Jamie…which lies the fact you are like us."

His smile came back after what I said, "Good-bye Jamie, I'll never forget you," I said ready to leave. Though just when I was about to leave, what he did kind of caught me off guard, he was hugging me. "I'll never forget you either Jack…" he whispered; though it almost sounded like if he was crying since he didn't really want me to leave him. It took a moment, but I finally put my arms around him, embracing him; it really had been so long since I have bonded/interacted with a child. The few I remembered, by this time, they're either adults or have passed away. Because of all these mixed emotions happening within me, a single tear escaped from my eye rolling down my face.

After the heart-warming good-bye, I made my way out the window and waved to Jamie another last good-bye; maybe for now, something tells me in the near future I'll probably be seeing him again. I then dissolved into snow and let the wind take me away.

After while, I finally reappeared, flying back to the sleigh where North, Sandy, and Bunny were. As I arrived, I saw that they were waiting for me since they have already put the children to sleep. "Okay, everyone hop on, we are going back to the North Pole," North said getting on the sleigh. Sandy and Bunny got on while all the fairies were hovering in the back of the sleigh; though of course Baby- tooth saw me and was once again on my shoulder. I hopped in as well and the sleigh immediately lifted and started to fly back.

It was a long boring trip, but we finally made it. Everyone entered into the workshop and the first thing that came to mind was the Tooth-fairy; if Sandy was revived, Tooth had probably woken up. As I walked it was pretty quiet, but it didn't really last long since we heard a feminine voice. "Oh, where could everyone be? I looked everywhere, they are not here," I heard the voice say, and in that moment, I recognized it was Tooth's voice; she had been revived as well. After a few seconds, she flew up looking around with her back turned to us, so I finally spoke, "Hey, we're over here," I said waving. "Huh? That voice?" she then turned with a surprise yet happy expression. "Jack?...Jack!" she then swooped down and tackled me with a hug. "Jack your back…" she said softly. "Yeah, I'm back, and Pitch is gone," I said. "Oh, really, you guys took care of him?" she turned her attention to the group. "Yeah, got back your fairies and the teeth," North said.

"Good, at least now the children are safe," she said turning her attention to me again. It seemed a little weird for me, but as she was looking at me as I was looking at her, it seemed like my heart was slightly racing; I truly haven't had this kind of feeling in the longest time. Without really knowing it, I found myself and her slowly moving towards each other, but due to Baby-tooth flying off my shoulder and was in front of us, we didn't really do anything and stopped. By the look in her face, she seemed mad; I was assuming she was jealous, it was the only thing I could think of since she and all the other fairies have a crush on me. So we both ended up chuckling and let go of each other. Baby-tooth ended flying on Tooth's finger, "Relax, Baby-tooth," she said smiling to her.

* * *

Many Years Later

* "Were could he be? He should have been here already," North said. He was in his workshop pacing back and forward waiting for Jack and Tooth to show up. The other half of the group was waiting for their arrival as well. "Well I'm not really surprised that Jack isn't here, he tends to always show up late when it comes to meetings. Happened ever since the day he went back home to take his parent's place after they finally gave out," Bunny said to North. "Yeah, but Tooth is not the type to be late," he said back. "Well, I heard that she is pretty busy at the moment with her work, so that's probably the reason why she is running late." "Well, the reason I'm wondering more on where Jack is, it's because the man in the moon said to gather around since he instructed Jack to tell us something important." Then that's when Sandy heard a noise and pointed his finger in indicating someone was coming.

As the doors opened, it revealed to be Jack; yet even though he doesn't really age, he looked slightly older in appearance. "Nice to see all your faces again, it has truly been a long time since we gathered like this," Jack said walking towards them with his staff over his back. "Why were you late?" North said straight-forward. "Yeah, what excuse do you have for us this time?" Bunny said. Then Jack pointed the staff at Bunny, "Don't start, please," he then lowered the staff and turned his attention to North. "Well, the reason I was late is…well..um," he then turned his head slight back, "Hey, you can come out now," he whispered. North, Bunny, and Sandy were confused of Jack's comment.

As the group looked at Jack, they slowly ended up seeing another small figure appearing from behind him. The figure revealed itself to be a small innocent girl; she seemed a little scared looking at the other guardians, so she was basically clinging onto Jack's jacket the whole time. In many possible ways, she was strikingly similar to Jack as well; she had pure bluish eyes, had pale-skin like the snow, had long loose silver hair, and wore a simple beautiful white dress along with being bare-foot; the only one thing that was off about her appearance, was that even though it wasn't to0 distracting, she had small beautiful fairy wings. "Had to take care of her, and it was hard for me to convince to come since she is very shy," Jack said resting one of his hands on her shoulder.

Everyone was stunned; they didn't know what to say, "Who is the girl?" North finally questioned. Jack chuckled a little and answered, "Well, she is really the reason why this meeting was called by the man in the moon, her name is Snowflake, but she prefers to be called Snow. The man in the moon wanted for you to get a heads up by telling me to introduce her to you all….the man in the moon says that in the long future when she is a little bit older, she will be the next guardian to join, he says that her existence is truly unique and that she would make a great addition to the team." "This girl… is the next guardian? But what is she really?" Bunny asked. "Well, she's more of a cross between a winter spirit and a fairy, so since she just has the wings and has the same powers as mine, she is more likely called a winter fairy." Jack said. "Why do you know so much about her Jack?" North asked. Jack then smiled and almost wanted to laugh at his question, but he didn't, "I guess I left this part out accidently," he said still laughing scratching the back of his head, "The reason I know so much about her, is because I took care of her since her birth….she is my daughter."

"WHAATTT!" the group screamed; they weren't expecting those words to ever come out of his mouth since they say Jack is always immature, mischievous and such to even raise a child, or in other words, they couldn't really picture him as a responsible parent. "Yeah, I know, I wasn't really planning to have ones of my own, but ever since my parents passing, I had decided to have one. My parents' wish was to keep spreading winter as a tradition to pass down, so I kind of wanted to keep that tradition going, I know I have a long time until my time comes, but when it does , I know I could count on my sweet little angel," he then smiled and patted Snow on the head. She looked at him and smiled, "Thanks, dad," she said softly.


End file.
